Nearly 1/3 of Americans will experience an anxiety disorder in their lifetime resulting in impaired social function and reduction of quality of life. Unfortunately, existing anxiety medications suffer from delayed or inadequate efficacy and sedative-hypnotic effects. Development of additional anxiolytics with different mechanisms of action could improve therapeutic outcomes.
Professors Chris Cunningham (Concordia University Wisconsin), Cecilia Hillard (Medical College of Wisconsin), and Elizabeth Liedhegner (University of Wisconsin Milwaukee) have identified Sterol Carrier Protein 2 (SCP-2), a non-specific lipid trafficking protein, as a novel therapeutic target for anxiety. In mice, inhibition or loss of SCP-2 leads to reduced anxiety-like behaviors and enhanced fear extinction via indirect activation of the endocannabinoid system. The team has been recently awarded an R01 by the National Institute of Mental Health to develop and evaluate inhibitors of SCP-2 as a novel class of anxiolytic therapy. The MIDD will support these studies through preclinical pharmacokinetic characterization of successful inhibitors.